Carry On
by Blue-Starlight92
Summary: John left Australia for one very important reason: he was tired of the life his brother and his parents seemed to be so fond of. He wanted to go to college, graduate, make something of himself… and so he did, becoming a priest and moving to Japan in the process. And yet in Japan, he finds himself doing the exact same thing he used to...
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This has also been posted on my tumblr and ao3!**

**This is a Ghost Hunt and Supernatural mash-up sort of thing. Mash-up because while the concept of "hunters" and basic technique is the same, NOTHING else (characters, places, events, etc.) from Supernatural are mentioned. You can read this without knowing a thing about Supernatural, I think. If that's totally wrong and you need clarification, just tell me.**

**Summary: John left Australia for one very important reason: he was tired of the life his brother and his parents seemed to be so fond of. He wanted to go to college, graduate, make something of himself… and so he did, becoming a priest and moving to Japan in the process. And yet in Japan, he finds himself doing the exact same thing he used to. Now, on a case that he finds himself in over his head on, he calls up SPR.**

**New chapters will be posted to my tumblr first, and then here and ao3! I'll be posting the first four chapters (which is where I am now) here today, but new updates will come as I post them on tumblr.**

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John didn't have to analyze how this new "case" was shaping out for too terribly long to come to a definite conclusion… he needed help. There had been a recent string of murders, or at least John saw it as a string, though to the police, who weren't looking for anything strange, they didn't appear to be connected, but to those who knew what to look for, it was definitely something to look into, which was what had drawn John to the small town, a few hours outside of Tokyo (he tried to stay relatively in the area, in case Father Toujo or Kasuya needed him.) The townspeople were a little confused as to why a priest would be here about murders, but they were happy to see someone at the very least. Based on his research so far, what he'd found in the papers, what he'd heard from the townspeople he'd talked to, and the bodies that he'd seen (he hadn't seen all of them, the older ones had been buried already, but the newer ones were still in the morgue) he had decided that it was either a group of jiang shi, or a group of corrupted gaki that were now thirsting for blood and becoming dangerous, instead of staying relatively harmless and pitiable. A group of them, he was certain, which meant trouble. He hated these things, but he could handle one or two of them just fine, as long as he knew what he was doing. It might be nerve-wracking and a little terrifying, but he could handle them just fine. A group of them, however… well, he knew already and even without knowing how many of them there were exactly, that he was beyond outnumbered. He wasn't in over his head yet… but he would be if he attracted their attention.

He didn't know very many people who could help him. Priests didn't usually deal with this sort of thing, and if he was completely honest with himself, he'd actively avoided the sort of people who would actually believe him… and want to help. Save for a few. And so he decided he'd call Kasuya. He'd wanted to keep them from figuring out what he was up to in the majority of his spare time, but they were the only people who would be able to help him out.

The conversation had been short. John hadn't explained too much, just said that he had a case that he was still trying to figure out the facts on, but that it would be dangerous to move further, and told Kasuya where he was. Kasuya hadn't pressed for more information, just told him that he'd get everyone together, and they'd be out the next day. John had warned him that this wasn't the average spirit and that even in a group it might be dangerous, though considerably safer than if he tried to do it by himself. He knew he needed to, at the risk of having Kasuya turn him down; he'd been ready to pull out of the case at the Minami mansion because Urado had turned out to be far more powerful than they'd expected. Greatly to his credit, Kasuya didn't turn him down, and said they'd still be out there the next day, and that he'd pass the warning along to the rest of SPR.

He stayed in the town library until it closed, doing what research he could and trying not to be too idle while he waited for the others to show up. It was frustrating work, though the library had a much better catalogue than most small towns he'd been to. He was tempted to call his brother, or his parents, or any of the dozens of people in Australia who could help him out; he felt like he could almost literally hear his phone calling out to him, telling him something he couldn't quite understand, actually something was really talking to him, and he looked down at his phone with wide eyes… but then he realized that it was actually the library's automated intercom saying that they were closing, and he probably needed to go back to the inn he was staying at and get some sleep because his lack of it was starting to do funny things to his brain. He put his phone back in his pocket and decided, once again, against calling. That wouldn't get him anywhere.

He put away the books and papers he'd been looking at, and headed across the street, to the inn he'd booked a room at.

"Did you find anything, Father?" the girl at the front desk, the daughter of the couple who owned the inn, asked him when he walked in.

"Not much more, I'm afraid," he shook his head. "I've got some friends coming tomorrow to help out, though."

"Well, we have plenty of room… as always," she sighed, and then motioned him closer, so she could speak softly. "Do you think anything will happen tonight? With… you know… those things?" She was probably the only person in town who actually knew why he was here, and had fortunately been very receptive to the idea that the culprit, or culprits, behind the murders were not human or animal. He didn't always find those people when he worked cases, but when he did it was immensely helpful; so far she'd pointed out several people for him to talk to, introduced him to them, and given him several other names, all of which had turned up quite a bit of information or, in the case of her introducing him to the town coroner, allowed him to see the bodies they still had, which was what had helped him narrow down the culprit to the point that he had now.

"I don't think so, no," John shook his head, "but be careful."

"I will," she smiled.

"If you'd feel better if I stayed with you until the end of your shift, I can," he offered.

"Father, for the millionth time, no!" she laughed. He'd offered at least once every night since they'd started talking. "You look like you're dead on your feet! I'll be fine."

He let her shoo him away and walked down the hall to his room. He unlocked the door and opened it carefully, not wanting to disturb the careful line of salt he'd made inside, though he'd made sure that the door could open without hitting it. Inside the room, not outside it, and he never allowed maids in. It was the easiest way to make sure he could sleep without having to constantly be on guard. He didn't think the gaki, or jiang shi, knew he was hunting them yet, but he wanted to avoid becoming another random victim.

He undressed to his undershirt, though he still wore his jeans, and sat on the bed, sighing in relief at finally having some time to sleep. He'd gotten maybe an hour or two last night, three hours the night previous, and hadn't slept well the night before that. He was very, very, tired. After a prayer, he pulled the sheet and blanket over himself, turned out the light, and closed his eyes. Within a minute or two, he was asleep.


	2. Chapter 2

"Father Brown, wake up!" John could feel a hand on his arm, shaking him, and forced himself to sit up. Yoko, the innkeeper's daughter, was standing next to the bed, a worried expression on her face. "I tried calling your room, but you must have been pretty tired."

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't hear it." Sheesh, he must've been out of it! "What's going on?"

"There's been another murder."

He leapt out of bed immediately, and Yoko waited for him in the hall while he got ready, but they were quickly on their way to the crime scene. There had just been a killing right before he arrived in town, he didn't think the jiang shi or gaki would feed again so quickly, based on their pattern so far… which meant it was escalating, and he needed to exorcise or destroy the things as soon as possible.

They both took a moment to catch their breath when they got there: it was in an alleyway this time, and John knew that, at night, it was a fairly well lit one, too, which meant they were getting bolder. All the other killings had taken place in either the surrounding woods, or less traveled paths on the outskirts of town. The body had already been taken to the coroner, but it had been outlined very well beforehand, and John mainly wanted to come to the scene to see if he could figure out anything, or if there were any anomalies caused by whatever did it.

There were still policemen at the scene, but they were cordial and, since they weren't having any luck themselves, one officer said (off the official record) that John was welcome to see if he could find anything. Normally policemen weren't so willing, and it usually took quite a bit of persuasion, or coming back after they'd left, before John could have a good look; but John understood why: they didn't have detectives on staff. They were stumped and saw John as a sort of detective in his own right: harmless help that would get these murders solved quicker.

He was about to leave and go to the coroners when they got there. Apparently Yoko had long been back at the inn (he hadn't noticed her leaving to be honest) and had directed them to the crime scene. He felt bad for calling, looking at the girl's faces; they looked shocked, and more than a little horrified, and Monk and Yasu were both surprised as well… Kasuya and Lin, of course, didn't show any emotion on their faces. He knew it looked bad, it was bad; he hadn't seen the body yet, and he knew that. He wished he'd thought to tell Kasuya to leave the girls out of it, but at the same time he knew that they would have protested.

"Miss Yamamoto told us that you've been here a while," Kasuya got right to business, which was good. "I'm assuming you've narrowed it down?"

"I need to see the body to be sure," John told them. "But before this morning, I decided it was either a group of jiang shi, or gaki-"

"John, gaki don't exist," Monk interrupted "it must've been a spirit that was just taking on the form of a gaki, but-"

John held up his hands in both a placating, and quieting, gesture. He didn't like to interrupt, even if he'd been interrupted, but pretty soon they'd be running short on time and he didn't want to waste it. "I've decided on gaki. Whether or not they're just spirits who have taken on the form of gaki isn't the point at the moment… sorry… but I do want to go to the coroner's office and check the body to be sure."

"What makes you think it's gaki, rather than jiang shi?" Lin asked.

"And why would gaki attack people?" Mai asked.

"If they are gaki," he said "then they've been corrupted, and instead of being hungry for food, they're hungry for blood."

Mai looked like she might be sick, and John put a comforting hand on her shoulder before pulling away.

"As far as why I think they're gaki and not jiang shi," he turned back to Lin, "the surrounding area is too perfect. Jiang shi I've run into in the past don't have much motor control. They can move quickly, but once their course is altered, even slightly, it takes them a moment to get back in the direction they want to go. A group of them… they'd be bumping into each other and throwing themselves against buildings. Look at the alley," he pointed along the way, where there were cars in short driveways and garbage bins at the end of those, "the bins are all upright, there's no sign of damage on the cars… it's too perfect for a group.

"Also if you look here," he walked over to a retaining wall, "they're faint but visible, scratches. There's more on the top of the wall, but the man who let me borrow his ladder had to leave for work, I went ahead and gave it back to him, so I can't show those to you."

Yasu, who (though he still looked a little green from seeing what blood had dripped to the concrete) had stepped over to the retaining wall when John did, examined the scratch marks. "There are a few, but what makes you think this is a group, and not just one or two?"

"The wounds on the body are consisted with a large group, six or more," John explained, and Yasu nodded.

The few officers and other officials that were left on scene were waiting for them to leave so that they could clean up, and so they headed off to fresher air.

"Are you feeling any better?" John asked Mai and Masako, who were walking on either side of him.

"Now that we're out of there," Mai nodded.

Masako nodded too, but she looked like something was still bothering her. A moment later, and she said it out loud: "you said you've come across jiang shi before… that's not exactly routine exorcising for a Catholic priest."

John knew what she was getting at, and held back a sigh. He really didn't want to have to answer those questions, he really didn't, but he knew he had to at some point. "I'll tell you after we leave the coroner's office."


	3. Chapter 3

John had hoped the girls would stay outside, he knew it was going to be gruesome, but Ayako had been very quick to remind him that she was a doctor, and Mai and Masako, though they looked uneasy and a little green even at the thought of what the body could possibly look like, did not want to be left out.

The coroner was a small middle-aged man, no taller than John; friendly to talk to, but very clinical when it came to actually discussing the body itself.

"I know you're going to want to look at this by yourself, Father, so I'll leave you alone," he said as he walked ahead of the group with John and Kasuya, "but I can't imagine what else it could possibly be other than the obvious. He was completely drained of blood, and the wounds are similar to the others."

"But there are differences," John phrased it like a question. If they were the exact same, he would have said so.

"They're worse; messier. I think you might be right, either this is a bizarre group of rabid animals, or one sick son of a… sorry, Father."

John didn't comment, and just let him lead them into the morgue.

"The others are still in there, right where I left them," he said as he opened one of the doors to the large storage refrigerator, pulling out the flat tray that the body was on, covered with a white sheet. "Help yourself to any of my tools, just sterilize them afterward. Now, if you'll excuse me, it's time for my lunch break."

Monk, Mai, Ayako, Masako, and Yasu watched him as he left, finally speaking when the door closed:

"He's a little… strange," Mai commented.

"He's normal enough," John said with a half shrug. He'd dealt with some pretty weird people to the point that it didn't bother him.

"How long have you been here?" Monk asked.

"A few days."

"Seems kind of strange for him to just leave us in here."

"Most people in town have seen a Catholic priest only a handful of times in their lives, if at all… I don't think they know what to expect from me, and in a way that makes all of this easier."

"About that, I'm still confused about why you're here in the first place," Monk commented, and Yasu nodded.

"I'll get to that back to the hotel," John knew they could tell he was avoiding the question… he was bad at concealing that.

John put on one of the smocks that were in a drawer of the counter, which was full of medical equipment, and Kasuya and Ayako joined him, the three also snapping on a pair of latex gloves. They walked back over to the body, the others making a semi-circle around them, wanting to see, but not wanting to get too close.

John took a deep breath, and pulled the sheet back; and it was only through exposure and extreme composure that kept him from gagging, and even Kasuya's eyes widened.

"Okay, definitely an escalation…" John kept his breathing even.

"The other bodies weren't this bad?" Kasuya looked at him.

"No, the earliest ones, which I was only shown pictures of, were consistent with animal bites, and even the bodies from the last two attacks, which happened just before I got into town, didn't have many more wounds than the first, heavier scratching mainly: I'll show you in a minute."

"They didn't just bite in the areas that would give them the most blood flow, either," Ayako commented, her voice more clinical about it than usual… but this wasn't exactly the usual, either. "There are bite marks in those areas, yes, but there are still quite a few scratches on the calves and feet," she had pulled the sheet off of the feet and legs as well, so that it was just covering the man's pelvis and upper thighs, "and look, they've sunk their teeth in, but haven't actually bitten down.

"Wild animals wouldn't do this," Kasuya said, "animals aren't sadistic, and these would have been meant to cause pain, not for feeding."

"The bite marks aren't consistent with human teeth, either, not on this body or the others," John commented.

"The scratches are the exact same as those on the wall back at the crime scene," Yasu looked more than a little green, but he was examining from about a meter away.

"Gaki, in art, are always depicted with nails of varying length," John said, "and these marks are consistent with gaki I've dealt with in the past."

"You've come across multiple gaki like this?" Masako sounded confused, and a little scared.

John nodded, "usually it's just one or two; I wouldn't have called you out if I wasn't sure it was a group of them, which increases the danger level considerably to the point that I'd be in over my head on my own."

Masako looked sad, and John knew why: she knew that there were evil spirits out there, but he was sure that, as a medium, she mainly came into contact with kind, or pitiable ones, and that gaki were always seen as relatively harmless; it must be a bit of a shock to find out that this wasn't the only case of corruption out there.

"I'm sorry, Masako," John apologized. His instinct was to give a pat on the shoulder, or some form of contact, but he was still wearing his latex gloves, and he'd already put his hands on the body, so that option was out.

She nodded, and gave him a pat on the shoulder instead.

They finished examining the body, and then John showed them the wounds on the other two, just to confirm, but no new conclusions were drawn. Their paper smocks and latex gloves were thrown in the garbage, and they eagerly left the morgue, having decided… much to Monk's dismay, that what they were after were definitely gaki.

They walked back to the hotel, breathing in the fresh air with, again, a new appreciation for it.

"Now, John, enough side-stepping," Yasu was the first to bring it up again.

"Seriously… why are you here in the first place?" Monk pressed, and Ayako put her hand on John's shoulder.

Oh boy… he hadn't been looking forward to this at _all_.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: All caught up with what I've written so far! New chapters will have a longer wait, but WILL be posted!**

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John got them to wait until they were back in his hotel room, all sitting on the bed or in the chairs before he explained. He didn't exactly want to have the conversation out in public (alright, he didn't want to have the conversation _at all_, but he'd deal with it.) They had given him "the look" when they saw the salt line (or salt semi circle) around the door and on the windowsill, and the look had gotten even worse when Yasu moved the duffle bag with John's "supplies" for the case so he could sit down. John could tell that he'd have to explain quite a bit to them to get them happy again.

"Alright, John, out with it," Monk said it in his usual friendly tone, but it was pretty easy to tell he was serious.

"My parents were both killing monsters, putting spirits to rest more or less forcefully, and dealing with all things supernatural before they got married," John began. "They got into it for different reasons: my mother was raised into 'the life' as they affectionately call it, and my dad's parents, and brother, were killed by some kind of monster."

"Is it just your parents that do this, or…?" Monk looked at him.

"No," John shook his head, "it's a lot bigger than just my parents. There's a whole network or community of people that do this sort of thing; they call themselves hunters, and so they refer to cases as 'hunts' or 'hunting trips,' it makes it easier to pass off to outsiders. Anyway, my parents met while on a hunt, got married, and had my older brother, and then me a few years later."

"So you were raised into it too?" Mai asked hesitantly.

John nodded, "yes. A surprising amount of kids are. You stay in the hotel when mom and dad are hunting, sometimes you do research, and you get trained and you learn how to defend yourself, at least. When you're older, you join mom and dad. I was the research kid; I did research for more hunters than my parents, too. But, while having excuses to be in the library rather than at target practice was great, I hated it. I hated the life in general. I got into college early, they were all against it but I went anyway, and I studied to be a priest. They were happy about that, and while I was glad they were, I didn't want to be stuck even further into the life than I already was. Mostly because I was tired of it, but can you imagine what it does to a person's life span? I've never met a hunter over sixty. And the longer you stay in, the bigger reputation you have, and pretty soon, even if you try to get out, things still come after you."

"Why on earth would people willingly get into that?" Ayako looked shocked.

"Because someone has to do it. You said it yourself, Kasuya," John looked over at Kasuya, who was sitting in the provided armchair. Kasuya just nodded.

"Anyway, I didn't want to get dragged in any more than I already was; college was pretty much my one chance to get out. So I asked to be sent to Japan, and they sent me."

"But you're still… hunting," Masako said softly.

John sighed, "I tried to avoid it, but a few weeks after I got here, I started doing what I used to; paying attention to the papers, mostly, but I was already looking up local lore by the time the principal from Mai's school called the church. And it all began again from there. Because, like I said, someone's got to do it. I take care of ghosts with all of you… and then sometimes, not all the time, I really do spend most of my time at the church, but a lot of my free time is spent doing this."

"Are there no other hunters in Japan?" Yasu asked, sounding skeptical of that idea.

"There are… but I've been avoiding them more or less actively. I don't talk to my parents or my brother about it either: we call each other on birthdays, Christmas, and various Australian holidays, and it doesn't come up. I want to do the job, not get pulled headfirst back into everything all over again."

"Which is why you had to call us," Kasuya finished for him, and John nodded.

Monk looked like he was putting pieces together in his head: "so, one question, if you take care of monsters, then what about Urado?"

"That's right," Ayako realized, "you said, just like us, that you couldn't stop Urado. But it's pretty obvious that you could have, with a little help from us, at least."

They were all looking at him now, wanting to know the answer.

"Because Kasuya specified 'safely,'" John replied. "He said 'unless anyone here can hunt a monster safely.' None of what I do is safe by any means… and besides, I wasn't exactly eager to tell you all this. So, since I couldn't stop him through conventional methods, I opted out. And I told myself that, if we as SPR didn't, then I'd tell the client myself that fire would do the trick."

There were nods all around as everyone took in what he'd told them, well, except for Kasuya and Lin who had probably figured out most of it before they got there. The room was silent for a few moments before Monk decided that it had gotten uncomfortable.

"So, John, the reason for the salt?"

"Salt and iron repel spirits; I don't think the gaki know I'm hunting them yet, but I wanted to avoid becoming any other victim. I'll do the same on your rooms. Just don't leave the window open; if the wind blows in and breaks the line, it's no good. Any kind of break in the line makes it useless."

"I don't think I'll ever sleep with the window open again after this!" Ayako exclaimed, and everyone laughed.

John dug through his bag for the salt. Yasu, not so subtly, looked in to see what all was in there… that he hadn't seen already from moving the bag once.

"John, guns?" the way Yasu said it wasn't so much out of aversion to the weapon itself, but more of disbelief that John would have not one, but two in the bag.

John nodded, "I have a few more in the trunk of my car. All the permits and licenses necessary, don't worry. And I have salt rounds, iron rounds, silver rounds… between this bag and what's in the trunk of my car, I have pretty much everything to handle the usual cases."

Monk shook his head in disbelief, and John found a, mostly, full container of salt. They headed out of his room and across the hall to the girls'.

"Make sure not to let maids in," John said as he poured the salt on the windowsill. It was an inn, so it had central heating rather than air conditioning units under the windows, which made it nice. "I don't until I've cleaned everything up and have checked out."

They all nodded in agreement, and John poured salt in a wide semi-circle around the door so that they wouldn't disturb the line when they opened it. With all the rooms, the vent for the air conditioning was above the door, so it covered that as well.

John did the room that Monk, Yasu shared, and then the one that Naru and Lin shared as well. Once he finished, Kasuya turned to him.

"So, John, how do we find the gaki, and how do we get rid of them?"


	5. Chapter 5

They had to wait until nightfall. No one in the group liked the idea of that, John included, but he also knew that they wouldn't be active until then, and so there was no helping it. But it was when the gaki were also most comfortable, and had a greater advantage, and so there was a good reason for all of them to be on edge.

It was close to sundown, and they walked in a group out to John's car (he had most of what he needed in his bag, but there were a few things that he wanted from the trunk.)

"I didn't know you could drive, John," Masako commented. Normally it would be a strange comment, but with how strange the case was John couldn't blame her.

"I usually don't," John told her. "I'm not a very good driver honestly," he blushed a little, smiling.

"And I'm sure it would have given us all a start if you'd driven to a case with an armory in your trunk," Ayako joked, and everyone laughed. John tried, but it sounded a little forced. "… John, do you have an armory in your trunk?" she asked tentatively as the laughter died down. 'Was shot down' was probably more of an accurate term, and John instantly felt bad, but he couldn't do very much about it.

"There's a compartment," John started (attempting not to make it more awkward than it already was) as he opened the trunk lid for them to see. To all appearances, it was empty; "and so it looks just fine if I need to drive the car while I'm not on a hunt, but…" he hit a spot at the front of the trunk, center of the car; the hit wasn't very hard, but the latch popped and the compartment opened to reveal what could be called a modest arsenal; "the latch is broken. If we had put any kind of equipment in the trunk, it probably would have popped, and how would I explain that?"

No one could answer that, and John was glad when Kasuya spoke, breaking the awkward silence that followed:

"It'll be dark soon; what's our plan? You didn't give us very many specifics."

"Right," John nodded. "We need to keep them from attacking any more villagers. Originally I thought that it wouldn't be an issue, but their attack frequency has escalated far more quickly than I first assumed, and, as you all saw from the bodies, has increased in brutality as well."

Everyone (well, mostly, Kasuya and Lin seemed to be exempt from most group reactions) winced in memory.

"The problem is that there's a group, and we won't know exactly how many until we see them. I still think that my original prediction of five or six is accurate, which means we outnumber them, which is a good start."

"Earlier you said we'll need to force them into a corporeal form, and then salt and burn them," Kasuya said. "How are we going to go about that?"

"We'll need to draw them to us," John started, "and then force them to consume salt. In my experience, this will work just fine," he held up one of his guns, "they're filled with salt rounds. Iron will work as well, but if one of us gets in the line of fire, we'll get injured, so I'd prefer to use salt, though it'll still hurt if we get hit. Then we'll need to light them on fire," he held up a container of kerosene, "Mai, Masako, and Ayako can take these. I prefer to use matches, but if anyone has a lighter, that'll work just fine." John nodded when Monk fished his out of his pocket. "Who can handle a gun?"

Only Lin gave any indication, and John felt another knot of uncertainty, one of many since pulling SPR into the case, tighten in his stomach.

"Alright, then Lin and I will concentrate on shooting the gaki," he tried to make his voice sound normal. "And everyone else can concentrate on burning them or defending the attacks," he reached into the trunk and pulled out two iron rods, both a little longer than a fire poker. "All you have to do is swing."

"There's a catch, isn't there?" Yasu was very perceptive. "What is it?"

Mai beat John to it: "how are we going to lure them in?"

"Most of us can keep out of sight nearby… but one of us has to be bait," John tensed, already knowing what their reactions would be.

He was right. Takigawa and Ayako immediately raised their voices, yelling protests like they would with any of Kasuya's unconventional plans, which made him cringe, because they were usually never shouting _at him_, and he didn't like shouting even in general, but he knew to expect it, more or less… Mai and Yasu were understandably _very_ concerned, though Mai's voice was louder than Yasu's. Masako didn't like it, it was clear by the polite frown and furrow of her eyebrows, but she was quiet about it. Kasuya and Lin, of course, showed no aversion to it, and he was pretty sure he knew their line of thinking: what had to be done had to be done, it didn't matter if they were happy about it or not. It was the same mentality that most hunters took, actually.

He held up his hands in a mollifying gesture, and they all quieted: "don't worry about it; I'm the one that called you out here, so I'll be the bait."

More yelling, which made him cringe, and he wanted to give in to their protests, which were the same as before, that it was too risky to have one person be the bait with them all out of sight, that they should at least be in pairs, of course they were going to worry about it, and that it was too easy for something to go wrong… but he'd done this before. Whether he liked it or not he _was_ a hunter, even if his was more "on the side" than the traditional, and he, like everyone who had hunted the same thing more than once, knew what worked; and he _had_ done this before.

That thought gave him courage, and he held up his hands in the same mollifying gesture as before. Again, they quieted.

"I'm not happy about it either, but it's what works. I don't know of another way to do this that wouldn't put more people in the village at risk."

Ayako and Takigawa didn't know what to say to that, and John mentally sighed in relief… before Mai spoke up:

"But John, you and Lin are the only one who can use a gun; how can you shoot if you're the bait?"

"When I came across one before, I was able to get it off me long enough to-"

"But that's the problem, John," Yasu said. "There's a group of them this time. You said it yourself, that's how they hunt: they overpower. If you get overpowered and we can't get to you in time, then you could get killed."

"So could any of you," John replied.

"It's better to have two guns able to move."

"I don't think that Lin will miss."

"Yes, but can Lin shoot fast enough?"

"I'm willing to bet that he can."

"No offence Lin, but I'm not," Yasu said gravely.

Masako seemed to have thought of something else: "how will we make sure that they target us, and not someone out walking?"

Everyone nodded, and looked at John.

"That's why I want to be the bait… they'll be attracted to the smell of blood."

They knew what he meant, and they weren't happy about it. John started to worry that they were getting too loud, and that someone would overhear. They weren't in a crowd of people or anything, but where John's car was parked wasn't exactly secluded. He tried to calm them down again, but it wasn't working… and the sun was only getting lower and lower in the sky. He wanted to be ready before the sun went down!

He looked over Mai's shoulder at Kasuya, hoping he would understand his silent plea for help. As usual, Kasuya did.

"We're wasting time," Kasuya said, and everyone went silent, turning to look at him. "The gaki attack at night, and so we need to be ready by the time the sun sets. We don't have much time left."

Mai, Masako, and Yasu nodded, but Takigawa and Ayako looked a little mutinous. Kasuya turned to them: "you're not happy about it. No one is. And yes, physically John isn't the best choice for bait, but he's the most psychologically ready. He's dealt with these before, and he'll be better at improvising than any of us."

True or not, John thought that Kasuya was giving him a lot more credit than he should. But he still wanted to make the others happy, he knew they were just worried about him, and he was grateful for it… he just wished they wouldn't yell. He picked up a smaller iron rod than what he'd given Takigawa and Yasu.

"I'll keep this with me," he said. "It'll be easier to swing at close range.

Takigawa and Ayako both nodded. They weren't totally satisfied, he could tell, but they were a little happier.

They gathered everything they needed, plenty of salt and cans of lighter fluid. They had to be discreet about it, but there weren't very many people out on the street. John and Lin both had guns and plenty of salt rounds, and John put a knife in his pocket. Takigawa and Yasu held onto the iron rods, and the headed for the outskirts of town, holding the equipment in as low a profile as possible.

They made it without incident. The area John had picked was more in the woods than not, and behind several businesses which were already closed, and with the villagers scared into hiding at night on account of the murders, he had a feeling that all of the employees were truly home for the night. It was as private as John knew he would get.

Everyone took their positions behind various trees, most certainly close enough to get to him, and John could only hope that they were far enough away that the gaki would focus on him and not come up behind anyone. Why had he brought them into this? Yes, they were the only people he knew in Japan that had dealings with the supernatural, but they worked cases, not hunts! He should have known better! While Kasuya and Lin looked relatively comfortable, everyone else was completely out of their depth, he knew. Why had he done this? Because he needed help, that was why. Because there was a group of them and he couldn't do this alone, and he knew that if he tried he'd be overpowered and eaten alive. And it was his insistence that he wasn't still a hunter. If he'd been with his brother in Australia, they would have just called any of the other hunters they knew. John knew that he wasn't the only hunter in Japan (because he needed to stop kidding himself and admit that he was still a hunter. Even going to college and then to another country couldn't get him out of the life.) But it was that stupid denial that kept him from admitting it and calling his parents to ask if any of their friends had a contact in Japan.

The sun was down, and that brought him out of his thoughts. He'd never bring them into this again, and that was that. For now… it was time to get started.

He made a small cut in his arm, wincing… and heard someone wince along with him. He hated pain, but it was just a part of the job. The cut was small enough that he wouldn't do any damage to himself, but it drew enough blood that he was sure the gaki would smell it.

And then a different kind of waiting game started. He knew he didn't need to worry about appearing to do something else; gaki went into a frenzy when they smelled or spotted what they were hungry for. They would be blind to everything else, including attacks against themselves. The blood should keep them focused on John, once they got to him, and so they wouldn't notice the others attacking from behind. He just hoped they wouldn't notice them before then.

The hairs on the back of his neck rose, given him a seconds warning before he was pulled to the ground by one of his ankles. They were on him.

The pain from their bites and nails was excruciating, and for a moment John could only think that this was a terrible way to die. Those poor people…

The sound of Lin shooting brought him back to the moment, and he grabbed his iron bar, rolling over onto his back as he swung. The one he hit shrieked in pain, and the salt round John fired at it a moment later when he was able to get his gun up (John's body registered briefly that the recoiling kick from the gun hurt quite a bit when it was into the ground) turned it corporeal, and John kicked it back.

Lin was a good shot, and combined with the iron bars that were being swung, four of the six gaki were turned corporeal surprisingly quickly, and Mai, Ayako, and Masako were surprisingly good at aiming when they doused the gaki in lighter fluid and salt. Before long they had four of them down… but it was the last two that were giving them trouble. They were certainly focused on their goal, but were avoiding the shots. It was what John was afraid of. Takigawa gave a cry of alarm and pain as one of them bit into his arm, and John shot it… just before the last one pulled him to the ground.

He was running off of pure adrenaline, and he and Lin shot it at the exact same time. It hissed a shriek, and bit into John's leg, just before Takigawa knocked it away with one of the iron bars. Mai threw salt, Masako and Ayako both threw lighter fluid, and Kasuya was the one to set it on fire.

It shrieked as it burned, more than the others had, but after a moment or two, it was gone.

"That… we… we did it!" Mai cheered after a moment, and everyone echoed her in some way (well, almost everyone, once again Kasuya and Lin were exempt from group reactions.)

They had done it. They were done. They were not without injuries, but they had finished the job. John gave a silent prayer of thanks. His own injuries were the worst of them, and for that he was very, very, grateful. He had brought his friends into this once, but they hadn't been seriously hurt, and he would never ask them again. It was okay. It had really turned out okay.

"Let's just… let's just go back to the inn and sleep," Takigawa groaned.

Everyone nodded, and then laughed in a tired way.

And after putting all of their equipment back in John's trunk where it had been, they did.


	6. Epilogue

They slept until late in the morning, and the general consensus was that everyone slept better than they ever had due to sheer exhaustion. Ayako cleaned and wrapped up injuries, going fully into 'doctor mode' and everyone knew to let her. Afterward, they packed up, and John cleaned up the salt barriers he had put down, before they checked out. Yoko, the innkeeper's daughter, was once again working the front desk, and she asked in whispers if everything was alright now, and was happy to hear that it was. John left her his phone number, should anything ever come up again, as he usually did with people like her.

"I have room in my car," John offered as they all walked out to where everyone was parked.

"I'll go," Masako nodded. "The back seat won't be so cramped this way."

Other than that, the driving arrangements remained the same, and with three cars this time, they fell into a sort of caravan, heading out at the same time.

John and Masako rode in silence. They usually did, they'd ridden over in the same car several times to various cases, and neither one felt the need to make small talk, as both of them didn't care for it.

Today, though, John could feel a different sort of silence settle over them. He could tell that Masako, even more than Mai, had been affected by the turn of events. He wasn't sure exactly what Masako saw when she saw spirits, or what her connection was to them. He did know, however, that that connection was much stronger than someone like him or Takigawa would have with them, and with some exceptions, generally a good thing. To bring her in on a hunt, especially when gaki, the usual gaki anyway, were generally harmless and he was sure she pitied them more than anything…

"I promise I won't ask you to do this again," John said out loud.

Masako turned to him, and he could feel her staring at him for a moment, before she spoke: "thank you, John."

And companionable silence fell over them once again.

* * *

They had been back in Tokyo for several days, and life had returned to normal, both outside and inside the office. John's injuries were quickly on the way to healing properly, and he knew it was a safe bet that the others' were as well. The children (sadly) were long used to him disappearing for a few days and then coming back just as quickly as he'd left, and so they were happy to see him but relatively unsurprised when he walked in that night and began helping everyone get ready for dinner, and the following days were as normal as ever. After all, why bother where he'd been when now he was there to help referee football games and read Bible stories to them? It was just the way John liked it.

Kasuya's call was unexpected; it always was, and so John had learned to not be surprised every time his name showed up on the caller ID. But Kasuya seemed to waste no time taking cases…

"Moshi, moshi!" he answered the phone. It had taken him a while to get phone etiquette correct, and still wasn't sure he had it completely right, but he was sure it was passable.

"John, I need your help." It wasn't the reply, but the fact that it was in _English_ that startled him.

"Yes, of course, what is it?" he answered in English.

"How experienced are you with kappas?"

John couldn't believe it… Kasuya was calling him about a _hunt._ "I've run into them a few times."

"Good. I think there might be something near lake Biwa, if you're up for it."

"I'll be at the office in thirty minutes."

"Good," Kasuya said, and hung up the phone.

John put his back in his pocket, and he couldn't help but wonder what he'd started.


End file.
